Classics and War

Imprimis, Hillsdale College ^ | February 2002 | Victor Davis Hanson

[nicmarlo]

Bio:

Victor Davis Hanson, a professor of Classics at California State University, Fresno, received his B.A. at the University of California at Santa Cruz and his Ph.D. from Stanford University. In 1991 he was given the Award for Teaching Excellence by the American Philological Association -- an annual citation given to the top undergraduate teachers of Classics. He is the author or editor of several books on military and ancient history, including The Wars of the Ancient Greeks (Cassell, 1999), The Soul of Battle (Free Press, 1999), and Carnage and Culture (Doubleday, 2001). He has also written about traditional agrarian and rural life and contemporary culture wars. His books History Book Club and Book of the Month Club selections and have been translated into several foreign languages. His articles and reviews have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Times, American Heritage, The Weekly Standard, and The Wilson Quarterly, and has been featured on National Public Radio and the Jim Lehrer News Hour. He currently writes a bi-weekly column on the war against terrorism for National Review Online. Dr. Hanson lives with his wife and three children on the farm where he was born in Selma, California.

I thought this was an interesting read. My boss went to this college and gave me the article. I thought it worthwhile finding and posting. Hope you enjoy. (I was an English major, and probably appreciate what he says about the importance of reading the Classics, more than some folks).

[nicmarlo]

FYI ping.

[sistergoldenhair]

for a later read

[mlmr]

Cute!

[nopardons]

Well, I appreciate what he wrote, and thank you for posting this. He is, of course, completely correct. The dumbing down of education, in this country is so many fold, that it's difficult to know where to begin the condemnations.

Rome based so much of its culture on the Greeks'. Combined, it was what the elite , well educated European ( especially the English ) were force fed, in school, from the early Middle Ages through the early 1960's ! Copying the English system, American elite education on down, nurished generation after generation with the study of Latin, ancient history, logic, and classical litterature.

When did this all come to a full stop ? In the 1960's, with the KGB funded and led student insurrections. Yes, there had been lefty / Communist / Socialist teachers in the system before that; however , no , they did NOT have all that much influence. For those of you who lay blame on the NEA, and the NTA, that is only of late . The REAL blame must be laid at the feet of those who didn't fight back, when there was still time; the parents , the alumi of man colleges and universities, and the stupid students, who were useful fools ... who followed unthinkungly. The silent majority, whose voices remained silent when it would have done some good.

All isn't lost, though. FR is alive and well, and WE are the shock forces for change. : - )

READ ; READ ON YOUR OWN, AND ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO READ THIS CATALOGE OF INSPIRATION AND INTELLECT !

Yes, the Bible played a large part in the Founding Father's lives and education. Yet, as important, was their knowledge of ancient Roman and ancient Greek writing .

[HockeyPop]

Bumping fellow Victor Hanson fan

[RJayneJ]

Noteworthy post.

Click icon for: September 11 -- Six Months Later

[HockeyPop]

ping

[mrsmith]

History frames and enlightens our discussion of "news".

[nicmarlo]

The REAL blame must be laid at the feet of those who didn't fight back, when there was still time; the parents , the alumi of man colleges and universities, and the stupid students, who were useful fools ... who followed unthinkungly.

Thanks for your thoughtful post. I agree with all your comments, especially the above. It is ironic that the colleges, which "encourage critical thinking skills," have lost the ability (intentionally, most likely) to have their students actually use these skills.

[nicmarlo]

I never heard of Victor Hanson before, but I am very impressed with what he wrote and his style--he's definitely now on my list of authors to read.

[d14truth]

Thank you. I get 'Imprimus' at home. I, too, enjoyed reading this article. I think Tony Snow was the featured writer in the March issue.

[Southern Federalist]

Thanks for the bump. He has made more sense out of what's going on in the world than almost any other commentator. The whole campaign in Afghanistan was like a laboratory demonstration of the thesis of Carnage and Culture.

[Southern Federalist]

Hanson's book Carnage and Culture is the most impressive and insightful analysis I've seen of the kind of east-west confrontation we are now involved in. Highly recommended.

[nicmarlo]

History frames and enlightens our discussion of "news".

That is why it's so important to keep history as truthful and accurate as possible. Not doing so reminds me of Orwell's 1984.....quite scary.

[nicmarlo]

Thanks for your recommendation. I will definitely purchase the book and read with interest. It's refreshing to read someone who write's intelligently and can make it understandable.

[nicmarlo]

I think Tony Snow was the featured writer in the March issue.

That should be a another great article. I will look for it. Thanks d14!

[SunkenCiv]

GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach	join list or digest view topics view or post blog bookmark post a topic subscribe
Thanks nicmarlo. Note: this topic is from 3/12/2002. Blast from the Past. Adding to the catalog, *and* sending a general distribution. This Victor Davis Hanson piece is a "Longer Perspectives" topic from the FRchives, as are most of these (from the newly expanded "Thucydides" keyword): Pericles' Ideal of Democracy Robert Kaplan on Applying the Wisdom of the Ages to the Twenty-First Century The great Victor Davis Hanson now has a blog Vast and Deadly Fleets May Yield Secrets at Last (Freedom Over Tyranny Alert) The Journalism of Warfare The past as politics - (VDH on critics of Bush and the War on Terror) "Welcome to hell, gentlemen!" A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War Thucydides and Us Why Did Athens Lose? (Victor Davis Hanson on Peloponnesian War) Secret Of Ancient Athens Plague Is Being Unraveled "College-prep" for Navy SEALs? An Ancient Colony Of Andros Uncovered Typhoid May Have Caused Fall Of Athens, Study Finds Achaemenid Inscription Names Uncle Of Darius In Old Persian For First Time U.S. Has Gone Hog-Wild Like Athens Of Old The Classical Education of the Founding Fathers History for Dollars (Humanities) Black death DNA unravelled (Genetic code of 'mother' of deadly bubonic plague reassembled) To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.

[bert]

War is the natural human condition.

Peace is the interval between wars.

Peace is briefly achieved by winning a war.

Then there is Islam..... and pseudo war, sanctions

Sanctions, effective sanctions that cause severe pain and real suffering will bring the war. If the Iranian leaders are resolute, rather than surrender, they will continue and actually increase the attack.

If you back up and take a wide view of nations and events it becomes obvious we are living at the time of a historical cusp. There is an intense desire among radical Islamic fundamentalists to stop the flow of events leading to a modernized future. They long for the purity and sanctity of the not to distant past. They see as anathema the societal changes that have taken hold in Europe and the United States. They see the spread and acceptance of this change to all of Islam as damnation.

What will be the tipping point? What event or series of events will tip on a course that can be deemed favorable. A course that will stop or at least severely retard the progress of modernization events must be plotted and implemented.

Although Iran might not be the centroid of the planning and implementation, Iran is strongly sympathetic. The devolution that was conducted by Ayatollah Homeni involved locking all the doors of a movie theater in Bandar Shapur and then setting it on fire. The movie goers were sacrificed to the cause, to the devolution. The same reasoning produced the sacrifice of thousands in the twin towers.

The tipping point will not come. Iran is on defense, the assertion of principle of death and destruction has been stymied. Over most of Islam, adherents go about their daily business of living well and working toward continued improvement. The course amounts to Islamic evolution. That is change that allows going to the mosque while living an increasingly better life.

The Renaissance is in progress in Islamic lands. The Reformation is following. Rising from the sands of the Arabian desert and from the jungles of Indonesia are rich and populous societies that enjoy their wealth and their Islam.

Osama is dead. The mullahs are in a box. The devolution is withering. The people didn’t want it. The coming war of defense will end the devolution.

[BroJoeK]

nicmarlo: "I never heard of Victor Hanson before, but I am very impressed with what he wrote "

Someone used to regularly post Hanson's articles here on Free Republic, but this is the first one I've seen in, how long -- two years?
And it's over 10 years old!

For whatever my opinion is worth, Hanson is the best there is at this kind of analysis, always worth the read.

It would be interesting to learn someday why we don't see more of him these days on Free Republic.